Tag: Training
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#25: Black Gun
This is a follow-up to Blog #23: Red Gun, Blue Gun In the back half of the first millennium of the Common Era, Chinese alchemists seeking immortality created a dark powdery substance which they named huǒyào. Literally translated by character interpretation as “fire medicine”, huǒyào is the modern Chinese word for gunpowder. In the first…
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#23: Red Gun, Blue Gun
“To protect the sheep, you gotta catch the wolf. And it takes a wolf to catch a wolf.” -Alonzo Harris, played by Denzel Washington in the 2001 film Training Day. “We don’t need any accidents here” is a familiar sentiment woven into virtually all professional weapons training programs. It’s easy to avert hazards when shooters…
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#22: Academy Life Part VI
“The more I love humanity in general, the less I love man in particular. In my dreams, I often make plans for the service of humanity…yet I am incapable of living in the same room with anyone for two days together…I become hostile to people the moment they come close to me.” -Dostoyevsky “How do…
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#19: Academy Life Part V
“Guard well your spare moments. They are like uncut diamonds. Discard them and their value will never be known. Improve them and they will become the brightest gems in a useful life.” -Ralph Waldo Emerson “How does it work for nights and weekends?” The amount of free time we have – and what we choose…
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#16: Academy Life Part IV
“An army marches on its stomach.” Inconclusively and ironically attributed to Napoleon Bonaparte. As outlined in Blog #15, our training facilities and amenities have relatively little consistency. The availability, proximity, and type of lodging are combined with budgetary limitations and enrollment quantity to be the driving force behind the accommodations offered to us at a…
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#15: Academy Life Part III
Continued from Academy Life Part II “Do you live there?” Yes. Well, sometimes. We actually rotate through multiple locations in various U.S. states. Some are government training campuses with no-cost college style dormitories. Think of a university, small military base, or large business campus. It is common to find a convenience store, library full of…
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#14: Academy Life Part II
Continued from Academy Life Part I “Is it physically difficult?” Actually, no. And that’s not just the athlete in me talking. We had to meet physical fitness standards to get here in the first place, and we’re not training for the Olympics. Accordingly, what little physical training (“PT”) we get is designed to keep us…
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#13: Academy Life Part I
This is the first in a series of miniblogs that will expand upon certain generalized aspects of our lengthy training program. The topics are based on the questions I most often receive from all of you. “What is the training like?” The training program is roughly 60% classroom, 35% practical skills, 5% physical fitness. Remember…
The Dark Passport 